


Hot Cocoa and Crazy Chocolate

by areasontobreathe



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Human Castiel, Human Gabriel (Supernatural), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 17:46:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17125907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areasontobreathe/pseuds/areasontobreathe
Summary: Here is my Sabriel Secret Santa Gift for @cross-roads-blues.  This one took a few tries, because I didn’t like any of the first few I wrote.  Fortunately, this one just really worked well.  Content is SFW, no smut.  There are warnings for mild show of PTSD, mention of divorce, mention of past death of a pet (humane reasons), and mention of past violence due to serving in the Armed Forces.  Nothing graphic.I managed to include two out of three wishes:- Drinking Hot Cocoa- Sad GoodbyeTotal Word Count: 7228…ish.  I edited a smidgen during the final proofread, but it’s still over 7k words.  Oh, and this thing is lousy with Easter eggs. #sorrynotsorry





	Hot Cocoa and Crazy Chocolate

The first time Sam Winchester met Gabriel Milton, it was when Sam bolted into a random shop to take shelter from the awful morning he was having. 

His car would not start that morning (his brother, Dean, had hassled him for weeks about getting a new battery before winter set in, and worst of all he had been right). Then, as he jogged to class, the dark clouds above dumped their freezing payload of rain and sleet on Sam’s head. He managed to make it to class, shivering and soaked, right as it should have started, only to find out class had been cancelled due to the professor being sick. While he considered hanging around campus, he only had one class on Tuesdays, so he waited until he was mostly dry before trying to make the three mile walk home. No sooner had he gotten a block from campus than the skies opened up – again. Sam swore profusely and took refuge in the first open shop he came to.

As it happened, it was a chocolatier. Unfortunately, it was an expensive one. Sam dropped his head back and groaned before looking around for someone so he could apologize for dripping slushy water all over the pristine floor. Oddly, he didn’t see anyone in the shop, even at the register. Not wanting to just make a mess and leave without explaining – and possibly cleaning up his mess – he started browsing the displays. Most held what he imagined to be standard fare for a chocolate store: salted caramel, dried fruits, various nuts, several varieties of truffles, and so on.

The closer he got to the back of the store, the odder the flavors became. Chocolate covered sage leaves? He had heard of chocolate with chili powder in it, but curry? And kopi luwak? Wasn’t that –

“Yes, it’s the coffee that comes from the wrong end of a critter, and yes, I use real kopi luwak in the chocolates.” Sam jumped as a voiced, tinged with amusement piped up from behind him. When he whirled around, he felt like he had been punched in the chest.

The voice belonged to a man nearly a foot shorter than Sam, with shaggy brown hair, gorgeous golden eyes, a smirk, and two mugs piled high with whipped cream, chocolate powder, and sprinkles.

“I don’t, however, put it in the hot chocolate,” the man continued with a laugh in his tone. He sipped one mug before holding one out to Sam. “You were soaked when you bolted in here, and you still look freezing. Thought you might need a pick me up.” Sam could only gape at the mug, and tried several times to explain why he was in the shop, but couldn’t get any sound to come out. “Dude, it’s not poisoned. I saw you jog past earlier, and then you ducked in here a few minutes ago… It looks like a text book case of the Tuesdays, and I thought you could use a pick me up. On the house.”

“Th-thanks,” Sam managed to get out as he took the proffered drink. His fingers brushed the stranger’s, and it was like being scalded. I must be colder than I thought. He took a sip of the cocoa, and his eyebrows made a valiant attempt to join his hairline. “Wow. Wow! That is…”

“The best hot chocolate you’ve ever had in your life,” the man turned and walked to the counter, waving his hand in dismissal. “I know, I know, it’s gift.”

“Actually,” Sam grinned unknowingly as his brain caught up to what was going on, “I was going to say it tastes almost identical to how my brother makes it. More honey, but pretty close.”

The shop worker scowled. “No way, man. That’s my special recipe, not some store brand garbage.”

Sam chuckled, “Let me guess. Godiva dark chocolate – two squares of the 72%, half a square of the blood orange, a peppermint leaf, quarter teaspoon chili powder, half teaspoon cinnamon, real cream – not milk, sweetened with orange blossom honey?”

“Tupelo,” the shorter man grunted before he sighed. “And yeah, pretty close, just some wiggle on the measurements. To be fair, though, I don’t sell the stuff. It’s just a treat I whip up from time to time.”

“My brother has been pounding the recipe in my head since I could reach the top of the stove,” Sam relented.

“So, since you were four?”

“Six,” was the chuckled reply. “Sam Winchester, by the way. I’m sorry about your floor. If you have a mop, I’ll go ahead and clean it up.”

Another wave of dismissal. “Don’t worry about it. Not like I’m going to do a ton of business with the weather. Just flip the sign to ‘Closed’ and we can head upstairs.”

“Upstairs?” Sam’s eyebrows skyrocketed again. “Dude – “

“You’re soaked,” the smaller man ticked off on his hand. “The weather is miserable. You need to dry out, and probably need a hot shower. Once your clothes are dry, I’ll drive you home. No hanky panky unless you start it, Samsquatch.”

“It’s Sam. And I just met you. Pretty sure the owner isn’t going to be happy with you dragging me upstairs to his place.”

“Oh, crap,” the stranger sauntered around from behind the counter. “Left that part out. Gabriel Milton, owner of Trickster’s Treats.”

 

True to his word, Gabriel had only provided Sam some slightly-small clothes to wear while his were in the dryer (“My brother, Nick’s” he had explained. “He’s only a couple inches shorter than you.”), then drove him back to the house he shared with Dean. Despite that, Sam could not get Gabriel out of his mind for several weeks, his dreams haunted by golden eyes and smirking tones.

The second time Sam Winchester met Gabriel Milton, he walked in the shop deliberately. Dean asked him to pick up some chocolates to be given to some mystery person for Valentine’s Day. “I’d go myself, man, but I have to work a full shift at the garage. Besides, you know more about the girly romantic stuff than I do,” Dean begged. Having never seen Dean so eager to give a nice gift to someone for the holiday, Sam just shrugged, took his brother’s credit card, and headed straight to Gabriel’s shop.

“Welcome to Trickster’s – Oh! Samalam!” Gabriel moved from behind the register with inhuman grace, an odd contrast with the chocolate smears and sugar adorning him from head to toe. “What can I do you for?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“You look like you lost a fight with a truffle, dude,” Sam laughed.

“Busy season, my man, busy season. So, who is the special pick-your-pronoun?”

Another laugh. “My brother sent me. Dean, the one who makes the same hot chocolate? He wants me to pick up some chocolates for his date tonight.”

“Ooo, and I was your first choice? Your brother has good taste.”

“Ehh, he didn’t specify where, to be fair. But he’s also never gotten anyone a Valentine’s gift, so I figured it should be special, you know?”

“Hmm… Boy or girl?”

Surprised and mildly intrigued by Gabriel’s nonchalance when asking about the gender of a date, Sam smiled slightly. “No clue, honestly. But it’s someone special. I’m pretty sure they have adventurous tastes, because Dean actually suggested Indian food a couple weeks ago, and he would never do that on his own.”

“Gotcha,” the bouncing ball of energy replied with a vigorous nod. “I’m thinking a variety box, ranging from the more exciting standard stuff to the more boring unique stuff. Start at sea salt and work our way to curry. What’s your brother’s favorite drink?”

“Whiskey,” Sam responded without hesitation, fascinated by seeing Gabriel in a serious mode. On his last encounter, the man had been as hyper as a cartoon character.

“I have a bourbon chocolate he’s going to lose his mind over,” the chocolatier murmured with a definitive tone. “Hmm… and… blackberry sage, pear and brie, licorice, black sesame… has your brother shown any tendency toward sushi lately?”

“He doesn’t like it, instead of refusing to try it?”

“Okay, so mystery date likes sushi. Add the wasabi almond and the ginger tea. My brother is a sushi nut and those are two of his favorites.”

In the end, Gabriel rose magnificently to the occasion of crafting a chocolate sampler for a person Sam had never even met, based solely on Dean’s changes in food preferences. In addition to what had already been decided, Sam saw three different cactus infused chocolates (agave, nopal, and prickly pear) and every alcoholic flavor from rosé to tequila join the selection. When all was said and done, the box held thirty-five chocolates in twenty different flavors. The top of each chocolate was a brightly colored pattern helping to distinguish what was what.

The entire time, Sam had been captivated seeing the other man in his element. Watching him consider flavors and craft the selection, right down to ensuring the ‘right’ flavors were next to each other, had been strikingly similar to the time Sam had seen an orchestra perform: he had been so captivated by the conductor that he hardly heard a note of the music.

“ – And after discount, that comes to eighty even,” Gabriel’s bright voice interrupted Sam’s reverie.

Shaking his head, he held out Dean’s credit card. “That’s less than I expected, actually.”

Gabriel just shrugged. “You said your brother has never gotten anyone a Valentine’s gift before, and suddenly not only is he very concerned that he gets a nice one, he’s trying different foods? That sounds like first love, which gets a hefty discount in my book. Plus, you’re cute.” He threw in a wink at that, making Sam blush. Fortunately, the smaller man didn’t seem to notice.

The entire drive back home took everything in Sam to concentrate on the road in front of him. He thinks I’m cute? Maybe he just says that to all his customers. Gabriel strikes me as the type to flirt with little old ladies like they’re his long-lost love.

It didn’t help that Sam was uncomfortably attracted to the energetic chocolatier.

 

The chocolates were a huge success with Dean and the mystery Valentine except – “You had to go and buy chocolates from Cas’s brother? Dude.”

“Well, if you had told me anything about her, I could have avoided that, couldn’t I? I had no idea Gabriel even has a sister.” Dean blushed heavily and rubbed his neck before mumbling something Sam couldn’t hear. “Dean, did she like them at least?”

“Yeah,” Dean grinned. “Except the bourbon, all of them were his favorites. I got some pretty big boyfriend points for that one.”

“The bourbon was for you,” Sam started before his brain screeched to a halt. “Wait, his favorites?”

All the color that was in Dean’s face previously drained away, leaving every freckle standing in stark contrast to the slightly green tinge left behind. He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders before lifting his chin slightly. “Yeah, Castiel is a guy.”

“Huh,” Sam replied. “Cool.” He restrained a laugh as Dean deflated slightly. “Dude, I figured out you were bisexual when I was fourteen. I honestly don’t care as long as he’s not a douche and your happy.”

Finally, a grin took over the older Winchester’s face as his color returned to normal. “Thanks, Sammy.” Then, he cleared his throat, moment clearly over. “So, how do you know Gabe?”

“Oh, um…” It was Sam’s turn to blush. He explained about the rain and sleet, and taking refuge in Gabriel’s shop since it was the only thing open. “Dean, it was so weird. He made me this huge mug of cocoa, and it tasted – “

“Just like, mine, yeah I know,” Dean waved off. “Cas mentioned it once when I made cocoa for him. I just don’t use as much whipped cream or honey. Well, I think it’s…cool, that you met Gabriel. Just, be careful, you know? Gabe hasn’t had a great life, and I don’t want him, I dunno, taking advantage of you or something. So…yeah.”

Sam couldn’t explain why, but he felt offended on behalf of a man he barely knew. “Dude, he’s actually really nice. And hilarious.”

“Yeah, and doesn’t take anything seriously, Sam. Just be careful, okay?”

 

The third time Sam Winchester met Gabriel Milton was nearly the last time.

It was the week following Sam’s conversation with his brother. Thoughts of the gorgeous candy maker danced in and out of his mind, distracting him during some of his classes. Considering he was in his final year of study to become a veterinarian, this was inconvenient to say the least. Finally, after he nearly failed a test, he couldn’t take it anymore and stalked his way to Trickster’s Treats.

Ordinarily the entrance he made – ignoring the “Closed” sign sweeping the door open, and standing there dramatically – would have made a big impression worthy of one of the romantic comedies he would deny with his dying breath that he was so fond of. It was disquieting to find the room empty and his gesture summarily ignored. Before he could shout for the pint-sized owner, he heard a woman’s delicately-accented voice in the back.

“Gabriel, you owe me this….”

“I owe you jack shit, Kali. You had an affair and divorced me. You get my military pension – which is funny, because I don’t recall you being the one who got shot. But you got all of that somehow. And the house. And you got Strudel, who you put down out of spite. What more do you want?”

“Don’t stand there and accuse me of putting down your dog out of spite. He had kidney failure.”

“Fine. But what do you want from me?”

“I told you, Gabriel. I want you to make the chocolates for the wedding.”

“No.”

“Gabriel – “

“Get out.” A brief silence. “Get the FUCK out, Kali! GET OUT!!”

Sam snapped into motion when Gabriel’s voice kept chanting and screaming at the woman – Kali, his ex-wife apparently – to leave. He smoothly avoided the exotic-looking woman who stalked past him and slammed the shop door, instead bolting into the kitchen she had just exited. What he saw broke his heart.

Gabriel was standing with both hands on a stainless-steel prep table, head down, shaking and screaming those same two words over and over. Sam’s long legs carried him over in three strides, allowing him to turn Gabriel around to face him.

“Gabriel! Gabe! It’s Sam! She’s gone. You can stop. Gabe!” he gave the smaller man a single firm shake, only to be shocked by the punch that caught him in the jaw and sent him to the floor. Before he could wrap his mind around being laid out by a man half his size, the man in question had jumped on him, pinning his arms to the floor with expertly placed knees, holding his forehead down with one hand and in the other – a knife. 

Which was held against Sam’s throat.

“Gabe,” he whispered, not daring to startle the man. “It’s Sam. Please don’t do this. Kali left. It’s just me.”

Finally, whiskey-colored eyes cleared and widened in realization. Gabriel looked at the knife he held to Sam’s throat in horror before throwing it across the kitchen in alarm and scampering back. “Oh no. Sam. Sam, I am so sorry. I – no no no no no no. Are you okay? Did I hurt you? You – you need to leave. I’m so sorry, but you need to leave. I thought I put the closed sign up. You shouldn’t be here – “

Sam crawled over and grabbed him by his shoulders. “Gabe. You did have the closed sign up, but the door wasn’t locked. And I’m not leaving. You didn’t hurt me, you just surprised me. But I don’t think you need to be alone right now.” With that, he sat down, careful to keep just his side pressed against Gabriel but his hands on his knees, legs bent.

Exhausted, the smaller man leaned against him for support. “So, you saw my ex?”

“Ex-wife, yeah. Heard that part.”

“How much did you catch?”

“Just the end really. Ex-wife, military pension, Strudel, wedding. That part. I didn’t mean to intrude it just….”

“Yeah, that part happened kind of fast. I don’t think you could have backed out fast enough to avoid it.”

“Did she really put your dog down?”

“While I was overseas, yeah. She didn’t tell me about the kidney failure until a couple years after the divorce, so she certainly let me believe it was out of spite.”

“What a bitch.”

“You have no idea.”

“I had no idea you were military. That’s pretty cool.”

“Sam. I nearly killed you. It’s not cool.”

Sam shrugged. “Considering I’m twice your size, that was really impressive. I’ve never had anyone able to just throw me around like that…” he realized how that sounded and hoped his hair was hanging far enough over his face to hide the blush.

To his chagrin, Gabriel caught the unintentional innuendo. “So, you liked that, huh?”

“I really think we are getting off topic. Military? Aren’t you a little short to be a storm trooper?”

“Ha. Ha. I was in the Marines, I’ll have you know.”

“So was my dad.” Nothing like mentioning John Winchester to kill a blush.

“My brother mentioned that. That’s who Dean got the chocolates for, by the way.”

Sam laughed, tossing his head back and bumping his head on the prep table for his effort. “Dean mentioned that about a week ago, actually,” he explained as he rubbed his scalp. “I thought your brother’s name was Nick, though?”

“Mmm. I have five brothers. Cas is my favorite, Nick is next. There’s also Michael, the oldest, Raphael, who’s between me and Nick, and Balthazar, who’s between me and Cas.”

“Did any of them go into the military?”

That set Gabriel chuckling. “Oh, geez no. Never. Joining the military was probably the most rebellious thing I ever did, believe it or not. My family’s a bunch of religious pacifists, except me and Nick. Nick’s just too anti-establishment to do military.”

“So, what did you do over there?”

“You don’t want to know that,” came the soft, mournful response.

“Gabe, my dad was in Vietnam. I know an episode when I see it. I know it wasn’t pretty, that it was likely monstrous. But it may make you feel better to tell someone.”

A sigh. “I killed people, Sam. Isn’t that bad enough?”

Sam rolled that around in his head with what he had seen and heard. Hand to hand combat training, clearly. He had mentioned being shot when he was arguing earlier. Killed people. “Were you special forces?”

“Pfft, no. Where did that come from?”

“Well,” Sam hesitated. “My dad, honestly. He was special forces, and it left him what he always called ‘a special kind of screwed up’, even before my mom died. Your reaction kind of reminded me of that.” He glanced over to see how close to the mark he was.

Even though Gabriel wasn’t facing Sam, the thunderous look on his face was still clearly visible.

“Dude, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be prying. I’ll go.” Sam went to stand before a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder made him keep his seat.

“You’re fine. I’ve just heard enough about John Winchester to know I don’t ever want to be compared to him.”

Oh. Apparently, Dean and Cas were more serious than he initially thought, if Dean had told Cas about the kind of things that would make Gabriel’s face look like that. Before he passed a few years previous, Dean was their father’s favorite punching bag, and he still carried scars to this day from broken whiskey bottles. If Dean had told the truth about them to Castiel, then things were serious indeed.

“I was a sniper.” Sam shook his head to clear his thoughts before he turned to the man next to him, who just sighed and tipped his head back. “Fifteen years, back to back deployments. At first, I thought I was ‘doing right’ by our country, right? All that post 9/11 propaganda. By the time I realized I was an underpaid thug for corporate interest, I was so…different. Messed up. I couldn’t function around normal people, so I stayed where I knew the rules. Kali couldn’t take it, and really, I can’t put all the blame on her. We were married right before I was deployed the first time – who wants to be married for over a decade to someone who may as well not exist? It’s how she handled it, and the timing.

“I got shot. I can’t tell anyone where I was when it happened yet – it’s actually still classified? I thought I was a goner.” He runs his hands through his hair, moving it to show a long scar on the side next to Sam. “Fortunately, they just managed to clip the scalp and fracture my skull. I got unbelievably lucky. Except, I woke up in the hospital and there’s a big envelope from my wife. Is she worried? Is she making sure I’m okay? Nope! It’s photos of her and this big, buff, brunette Swede. His name was actually Thor, he was so Swedish,” a rueful chuckle. “And divorce papers. Since we married in California, and that was still my civilian address, I couldn’t even use the proof of an affair for retribution – she had an affair, divorced me on what could have been my deathbed, and I am still paying her for the privilege.”

“No wonder you lost it on her.”

“I don’t believe in hitting women, but I was really close to making an exception.”

“And she wants you to make chocolates for her wedding?”

“Oh, she wishes,” Gabriel laughed. “No, it’s for her sister Kamala. Honestly, if Kamala came and asked, I would do it in a heartbeat – she’s a really sweet girl, like everyone’s little sister and mother rolled into one. I really think she sent Kali to punish her for how she handled everything. Kamala never approved of infidelity. I was fine until she decided I ‘owe’ her for all those years I was overseas.”

Sam could see Gabriel’s hand tremble as he ran it through his hair again. He was so concerned, he couldn’t even admire the fine muscles in his forearms for more than a second. “Dude, you need to get to bed. Let’s get you upstairs, okay? You need some juice and sleep… this is going to hit you like a ton of bricks here in a minute.” He stood before offering his hand to the broken man on the floor. As Sam pulled him to his feet, Gabriel’s knees came out from under him. Before he could hit the floor, Sam scooped an arm around him and pulled him close.

For a moment, all he could see was golden eyes staring up at him under furrowed brows. Despite the turn the night had taken, all Sam could think was how he now understood why people tried to drown their sorrows in a bottle of whiskey. He wouldn’t have a sorrow left to his name if he drowned in those eyes, right in that moment.

He was startled by hands coming up to squeeze his biceps. “How the hell did I put you on the floor? You’re built like a moose,” Gabriel whispered.

Slightly hurt, Sam frowned. “You think I look like a moose? Way to make a guy feel good, Gabe.”

The only reply he got was hoarse honking noise. Gabriel cleared his throat. “I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can walk… If you can put me back on the floor and bring me a blanket, I’ll be okay.”

Sam snorted. “And wake up stiff as hell, and probably sick to boot. It’s fine. I can carry you upstairs.”

“Sam –“

“Moose, remember? Mighty, thundering moose. I’ve got this.” Without waiting for an answer, Sam scooped him up in both arms and started walking up the stairs. “Door on the right, then down the hall, second door on the right?”

“I forgot you’ve been here before. And you can put me down. As much as I’m enjoying you showing off your manly muscles, I really hoped it would be in a different context.”

The younger man just shook his head, remembering the ex-wife and refusing to get his hopes up any further. “You’re delirious. You wanted to sleep on the floor in the kitchen.”

Eventually, Sam got Gabriel to drink a glass of orange juice and got him tucked into bed. Before he would let the older man sleep, he made sure Gabriel understood that he was taking the key to the shop door so he could lock up. “I’ll leave my phone number on your bedside table so you can call me when you wake up tomorrow. I don’t have class, so I can bring the key back whenever. Just – get some rest? If you need anything, call me.”

“Pretty moose,” was the mumbled response, followed by that hoarse honking noise again.

“Goodnight, Gabriel,” Sam said, his heart breaking. He shook his head before letting himself out and locking up the shop. To his surprise, it was dark outside; he didn’t realize they had been sitting in the floor that long. He let out a breath of relief when Dean was nowhere to be seen once he got home, not wanting to explain where he had been.

It was only when he was getting ready for bed that Sam’s eyes landed on a DVD of The Princess Diaries, and he smiled at what he realized Gabriel had said.

“I look like a moose,” he whispered to himself before drifting off to sleep with a smile.

 

He wasn’t sure how long he slept for, but when his phone went off the following morning, it was still dark outside. Grumbling, he rolled over and snagged the chiming nuisance. “Lo?” he grunted blearily.

“My brother tells me you have the key to his shop,” a masculine voice purred in his ear.

Sam sat up, rubbing his face. “Yeah… is this Nick?”

“Aren’t you a clever boy? It could have been one of his other brothers. I just need you to bring the key so I can get it back to Gabe, that’s all.”

“Not really,” Sam grumbled. “Have Gabe call me, and then I’ll bring the key over.”

“Or… you could meet me somewhere and I’ll get the key from you?”

“Nick, no offense? I don’t know you. I’ve never met you. I’m giving the key to Gabe, no one else.”

A chuckle sent shivers down his spine, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. “Feisty… But we’ll play it your way. I’ll have Gabe call you.” Without waiting for a response, the line disconnected and left Sam to stare at the phone in his hand. Shaking his head, he padded down the hallway to the kitchen and started making coffee. Just as he had poured a cup and taken a sip, his phone lit up again.

“Sam Winchester speaking,” he answered the unknown number.

“Hey, Samsquatch,” the familiar voice responded, though with less energy than usual. “It’s Gabriel Milton.”

“I think I figured that out, Gabe,” he laughed. “You use the most absurd nicknames I’ve ever heard.”

“Thanks,” the other man’s voice seemed to brighten at that. “Nick says he called you?”

“Yeah,” Sam confirmed somewhat nervously. “He wanted the key to your shop, but – I don’t feel right giving it to someone I’ve never met. I mean, it’s your shop, not mine, and I know he’s your brother but… How do I know the guy I give it to is really him? I have no idea what he looks like, and –“

“Sam,” he was cut off. “It’s okay. There’s a reason Nick doesn’t have his own key to my store. And no, I didn’t give him your number and ask him to get my key from you, so you made the right call. He stopped by this morning, and I had to explain that you had the key so I couldn’t open up and let him in.”

“Then how did he get my number?”

“Who even knows,” Gabriel sighed. “It may have even been legal by a technicality. He does that.”

“Are all your brothers that weird?”

“Oh, wait until you meet the one dating your brother.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Cas is good people, he just… isn’t great at being people? If that makes sense?”

“Not really.”

Gabriel cleared his throat. “You’ll see eventually. Anyway. Why don’t you meet me at the shop in a couple hours? That should give us both time to wake up and all that jazz, and I’ll make you breakfast as a thank you.”

“Dude – “

“Sam. You were in no way obligated to help me last night, especially after I blindly attacked you. But you did, and you even made sure my shop was shut up tight. It’s just breakfast. Please?” the older man wheedled.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

“YESSS!” was the enthusiastic reply before the call ended.

Are Miltons just not capable of actually ending a phone conversation? Sam wondered before finishing his coffee and heading to shower and dress. The entire time, he denied that he was taking extra care of his appearance. If he blow-dried his hair, it’s cold outside. He doesn’t want to get sick, does he? And if he wore his nicest jeans and a flannel he was fully aware complimented his eyes… well, it was still jeans and a flannel. Not exactly dressing up, right? And again, it’s cold, flannel is warm, right?

He was still arguing with himself when he parked his car less than a block from Trickster’s Treats. It’s just breakfast, like Gabriel said. Nothing special. The shop owner had never done anything to indicate that he was even remotely interested in men. He had an ex-wife, and no matter how nasty she was, even Sam had to admit that she was beautiful just from the glimpse he got when he dodged around her the day before. Besides, even if Gabriel did like men, Sam was a foot taller than him. In his experience, men prefer their partners a little closer in size, usually shorter, regardless of gender.

When he reached the door to the shop, he noticed a tall man with dirty blonde hair standing in front of the door, smirking and looking at him. Doing his best to ignore the stranger, Sam knocked on the glass door of the chocolatery. After trying to get Gabriel’s attention a couple times with no success, he sighed and pulled out his phone, prepared to call. Before he could, the blonde man leaned in with a feral grin.

“Store’s closed, genius. Some kid named Sam has the key, and he’s running late it seems,” the smirk that accompanied the comment made Sam’s skin crawl. He recognized the voice as belonging to Nick Milton.

Just shaking his head, Sam called Gabriel without commenting. “Hey man, store’s closed. Door’s locked, but I’m waiting out front.”

“Sam, you have the key,” was the confused response.

“Yeah, I know. I’m not the only one waiting out here, either,” he sighed in mock frustration. “I tried knocking, but the guy didn’t hear me. Do you want me to just wait?”

“Fuck, Nick’s out there, isn’t he?”

“Mmm hmm?”

“I’ll be right there.”

Sam hung up and put his phone back in his pocket, rolling his neck to release the tension a bit. When he turned back to the door, he saw a figure emerge from the kitchen, slide gracefully over the counter, and saunter up to the door.

“Nick! Sam!” He called through the door in mock surprise. “Fancy seeing you two here! Sam, it’s okay, you can unlock the door.”

Still feeling the predatory gaze of Gabriel’s brother on his neck, Sam unlocked the door and waited for the owner to push the door open. Once he was inside, he dropped the key in Gabriel’s hand, relieved to see he was back to himself that morning.

Golden eyes smiled up at him, accompanied by a more genuine, wide grin. “Thanks, Samalam.” The grin fell, replaced by an arched brow as he turned to his brother. “Nick. Why are you terrorizing the moose?”

Pretty moose, echoed in the back of Sam’s head.

“Aww, don’t be like that, brother,” the blonde man purred, holding up both hands in a supplicating gesture. “You told me you let him take the key to the shop. I had to make sure your investment was safe, didn’t I? Just because you trust tall, dark, and puppy-eyed over here doesn’t mean I like having my favorite brother put himself in a precarious position.” He turned nonchalantly. “Besides, I wanted to get some of those chocolates you let me try last time. I have a… craving for them, if you know what I mean.”

Gabriel didn’t seem reassured, and instead crossed his arms over his chest and stepped between his brother and Sam. “I have to make those special. You know I don’t carry those normally – I only made them that time as a prank, and I didn’t expect you to actually like them.”

“What wasn’t to like?” the other man didn’t bother turning around as he perused the shelves.

“Nick, they were Scotch Bonnet and locust.” At that clarification, Sam’s face struggled to be both disgusted, surprised, and confused. He was pretty sure he just looked constipated.

“They were good,” he shrugged.

“Ugh, only you,” Gabriel relented. “I’ll order the peppers and bugs, and I’ll call you when they come in, okay? Next time, give me a head’s up so you don’t have to make two trips.”

Nick waved him off. “I’m in town for a couple weeks, it’s no trouble.”

“Don’t want to know. I really don’t. Plausible deniability.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I’m plenty of fun. Good, clean, legal fun, I remind you.”

“Hmmm.” Finally, Nick turned back around and started walking toward the door. “Call me when you order the stuff for the chocolates. I really didn’t realize you have to special order everything, so I’ll pay. And Gabe? Be careful.” With that, he patted his younger brother twice on the cheek, shot a pointed look at Sam, and left.

A plume of hair puffed out of Gabriel’s face as he blew out a breath Sam hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. The smaller man turned with an apologetic look. “To be fair, I said Nick was my second favorite. I never said he was nice. But enough of that. Breakfast.” With that, he grabbed Sam’s elbow and steered him through the kitchen and up the stairs to his apartment.

When they got up there, Sam was pleasantly surprised to find a spinach, tomato, and mushroom omelet waiting across from a huge stack of Belgian waffles smothered in Nutella and bananas. “I don’t know if you will ever stop surprising me, Gabe. Please tell me the omelet is for me?”

“You don’t think I’m eating spinach for breakfast, do you?”

It hit Sam like a truck that he actually didn’t know what Gabriel liked to eat. Really, he knew very little about the chocolatier, and the gravity of that weighed him down more and more as the meal went on. Finally, when he had finished the last bite of omelet and chased it down with the last of his coffee, Sam decided to fix that.

“So, how did you know what my favorite omelet is?” he started.

“Um… So, don’t get creeped out, but I may have… asked? Cas?”

“I’ve never met Castiel, so how did he know?”

“Ugh… Deanwasthereandhedoesn’tlikemebutwhenIexplainedhetoldmewhatyoulikeforbreakfast.”

“In English?” Sam got up to pour another cup of coffee.

“Dean was at Cas’s place, and didn’t want to tell me at first because he really doesn’t like me. But I explained what happened yesterday, and he had mercy on me and told me what you like for breakfast.”

“After threatening you, I’m guessing?”

“Sam, my man. In theory, I’ve been threatened by bigger and better, but dude. Dean is very creative.”

“Oh, I know. My personal favorite is always the knife with salt threat.”

Gabriel blanched. “The what?”

“He must not have gotten very far. Rats? Did he get to the rats?”

“With the bucket? And the blow torch?”

“Yeah. Okay, so you didn’t get the full course, you’re fine.”

“And you said my brother is weird?” Gabriel gaped at him. “Your brother has an actual repertoire of threats so expansive that I didn’t hear all of it in fifteen minutes?”

“Mmmm… I think he has about a day’s worth if I’m being honest. I’m more concerned with why he felt the need to threaten you. Why does Dean dislike you so much? I honestly thought you two would get along great.”

“He doesn’t like that I’m divorced, for one. Plus, there’s the military background – reminds him too much of your pops, apparently. My age doesn’t help things….”

“Why would Dean care about your age?” Sam asked, perplexed.

“Sam, I’m nearly forty.”

Okay, that was a lot older than he had expected, but it made sense if his youngest brother was old enough to date Dean. “I still don’t get why Dean would care about that, I guess.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened as though he was just realizing something. He took a bite of waffle with a thoughtful look on his face. “Sam, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five, why?”

“I’m thirteen years older than you.”

“And? My best friend Charlie is ten years older than me. Who cares?” The conversation was leaving the realm of confusing and taking a sharp turn toward irritating. “Gabe, you can’t actually be bothered by people’s ages. You must get customers all the time who are all over the map with how old they are. And even as friends – we are friends, right?”

“I mean, I hope so – “

“Okay. I don’t get why you would make a big deal out of it, or why Dean of all people would make a big deal out of it – “

“Sam Winchester, you absolutely adorable, oblivious walnut. You really don’t understand, do you?”

“Not really.”

Gabriel took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he pushed the decimated remains of his breakfast away from him. “Let’s see if I can make this easier. Just – don’t interrupt, okay?” Sam nodded rather than replying out loud. “The first time you came in here, you were so – pathetic. It was adorable, honestly. This giant of a man, dripping slush on my shop floor, apologizing and offering to mop up the mess. And you bantered. When I teased you, you gave as good as you got. You were smart enough to know what all the ingredients were in the chocolates, even if you didn’t know about mixing them together. When we came up here so you could shower and let your clothes dry, you were completely polite, didn’t try to take advantage of the situation. Not that you could have, mind you, but you didn’t know that. It kind of broke my heart taking you home.

Then, you came in on Valentine’s day… I had been daydreaming about you for weeks, man. Smile, dimples, whole nine feet of you. And then, on the holiday dedicated to love, whoop! There you is. You were here to buy chocolates, and I told myself ‘of course he is, he’s a handsome kid, of course he’s got a date. He didn’t come to see an old man, what was I thinking? Idiot.’ But! You were here to buy chocolates on behalf of your brother. Who does that? No one is really that nice, dude. But you actually are. I did everything in my power to be as thorough as possible and keep you here as long as I could justify. In retrospect, I’m glad I did, because Cassie really liked the chocolates. Honestly, if I had been paying less attention to the mountain of man in my shop and more attention to the chocolates, I probably would have realized those were for him. Anyway, you blushed when I called you cute, and I knew, I knew I wasn’t crazy.

And yesterday, when I freaked out. Everyone has always run, or panicked when I did that. Even Cas just manages to stand there and wait it out. You were actually brave enough, and dumb enough, to try to calm me down before I could hurt myself. Even when I nearly killed you, you were more worried about me than you. Like I said this morning, you even went so far as to carry me upstairs, tuck me in, and lock up the store. Even this morning, when you could have been done with all of it just by giving Nick the key, you were resolute that you give the key to me and no one else, to be safe. It’s not your store, not your family – well, I guess not yet, but yeah – and not your problem, really. 

But you still did the right thing. Over and over, you do the right thing like it’s a rule of physics or something. It just takes my breath away, Sam. After all the bad I’ve seen and done, I want to just hold you tight and keep this little bit of grace in my life for as long as I can. And that is why Dean doesn’t like me: because I don’t want to be your friend, I want more. I want to take you everywhere I’ve ever been, and see it through your eyes. I want to make you breakfast every day, even if it is spinach. Every time I am around you, I just feel – forgiven. Like the universe has finally decided that my life has sucked enough, here is something to balance it out. I’ve been telling myself for over a month that, if you can smile at me, and find me funny, and think I’m okay, maybe I’m not such a mess after all, and – “

Sam cut off Gabriel’s nervous rambling with a swift reach to place his hand behind the smaller man’s head and a firm press to seal their lips together. At first, Gabriel froze, but slowly, as though he thought one of them would break, he started to kiss Sam back. A thrill shot up Sam’s spine and straight into his chest to know that his attraction to Gabriel was not just returned, but returned and multiplied.

As first kisses go, this one was both comparatively tame and at the same time one for the books. No wandering hands, no rushing, no groping. Just slow, careful, and thorough. Sure, they may have both gotten their hands tangled in each other’s hair, but that was the extent of it. It didn’t prevent them from kissing until they both had to stop and catch their breath.

“Dean is going to kill me,” was the first thing Gabriel recovered enough to murmur into Sam’s chest.

“Dean wears women’s underwear,” Sam replied before basking in the look of shock he received. “Now you have ammunition to keep him in line. Problem solved.”

“I may have underestimated how devious you are, Mr. Winchester.”


End file.
